Includes rev. version of papers originally presented at a section of the Innovations and Reproductions in Cultures and Societies Conference, which was held Dec. 9-11, 2005, Vienna, Austria
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
This timely volume moves away considerably from traditional topics investigated in studies of multilingualism and linguistic identity to propose new analytical approaches that investigate postcolonial societies from the standpoint of their specific internal structures. The book uses postcolonial multilingual societies as gateways into complex webs of identity construction and group boundary definition, the interplay and functions of oral (indigenous) and written (foreign) languages in multili ..